Smeaton’s Tower
when you were out at sea
even with all her storms
she couldn’t reach your candles
started digging for your roots
rings of your body
restacked on the shore now
where you watch her waves
that would have licked your skeleton
sucked the light
from your brain and bones
you would have welcomed her fangs
scared of the grass
like it’s the fur of some dead animal
haunted by its former owner
taunting you with its twitching
whispering in a language
you can’t comprehend
smoke and condensation
uncurls and dribbles down the walls
of your extinguished mind
memory replaces the flames
flashes like the light you once spun
sensing her serrations
stillness your prison now
your lover just a leap
a topple away
she still sings to you
your starlight soaked skin
still tastes the soft salt
on her blown kisses
through the frost of your cataract
scan the horizon
for the sooty stub
of your former self
cauterised by moonlight
but you’ve learnt
the patience of darkness
you’ll wait
as she slowly nibbles away
at the shore
knowing she’ll hold you again
crush the glass of your broken eye
give it enough facets
it’ll never need flames
to blaze again
Shoals Of Starlings 